Expect Kingsmen Park to be alive April 10 for Cal Lupalooza hosted by the music industry management class.

This is the second year the event has been held and the class hopes to make Cal Lupalooza an annual music festival.

Last year performers, most of them California Lutheran University students, filled the air from 5-8 p.m. on a Thursday evening.

Acoustic acts like Nolan Forghani, Joe Tandberg and Harrison Sands performed in the afternoon. A band formed by Edward Hill, Austin Linkous and Ben Fletcher played rock alternative, featuring multiple signers. Colorful lights, loud electronic dance music, hip-hop and a party atmosphere dominated the night.

This year the new music industry management class expects to outdo last year’s event. Last year the event drew nearly 200 people from the Cal Lutheran community according to Linkous, a junior music production major.

“This is going to be so much bigger,” Linkous said.

Linkous was in the 2014 music industry management class and is using his experience to help guide the students of the 2015 class. One difference will be the presence of more vendors.

“We’re hoping to get some local music companies and food trucks,” Linkous said.

Last year the only vendor was a hot dog cart.

Linkous said students and community members who produce and sell their own merchandise on websites like Etsy, are invited to setup a stand at the festival.

Etsy is a peer-to-peer e-commerce website which encourages the sale of handmade goods.

Linkous said the time of the show is likely to draw a larger crowd. Being on a Friday night from 7 – 10 p.m., Cal Lupalooza is on the cusp of the weekend and isn’t as restricted by noise requirements.

“We’re expecting a huge turnout this year,” Linkous said.

Evan Forster, the music industry management professor, designed Cal Lupalooza as a way for students to learn by experience.

“I decided to create a practical course for the students,” Forster said. “In 10 weeks, the students will actually make a record, produce an album, market and do all the social media for an event.”

Forster said his first year teaching the course, the group was learning the logistics of organizing a professional-grade concert.

Linkous said students were figuring out answers to questions like, “Where do we get forms approved?” and “Who do we take this to?” Luckily, it all fell into place by show time.

“Everything worked without a hitch, which is very uncommon, I can tell you, from doing shows [since] 1989,” Forster said. “Always, something goes wrong.”

Johnathan Luu, a junior double majoring in business and music production, helped organize last year’s event. He recalled what an effort the group made to promote the show.

“That was the hardest part, to be honest,” Luu said. “[Cal Lupalooza] was going to happen no matter what the important part is that we had people going.”

Students in the class created a website, posted videos to YouTube, drew up several posters, used Instagram, created a Facebook event page and even appeared on iCLU student radio.

“Every week we actually went on the [iCLU] radio and we had performances,” Luu said.

Luu said once Cal Lutheran students catch on, he hopes the festival will become better known around Thousand Oaks.

“You really need to go to actually experience this event,” Luu said. “It’s a lot more than you think it is.”

For more information, or to ask about appearing as a vendor, contact Linkous at [email protected].

Jeff Baker
Staff Writer
Published March 4th, 2015